Pelosi should focus on immigrants' home countries

As the new speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, takes office, and argument about whether or not to build the wall continues, there is yet another invisible wall between two parties.

While I personally can concur that Pelosi aims to represent many other races and ethnic groups — black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, to name a few — there is one point missing. This goes beyond the physical wall.

The root of this concern is discovering what is happening in these other nearby countries that is causing their citizens to flee and come into the United States, illegal or not.

Perhaps Pelosi should concentrate her energies on promoting communications with these other countries, to make their homelands a place their people may still want to live.

Senate can't be deliberate if they don't deliberate

In Sen. Chuck Grassley's opinion piece, he refers to the Senate as the world's greatest deliberative body — a claim that has been made by others for many years [New role means I'm three heartbeats from presidency]. That may have been true in the past, but it certainly isn't true today.

Where was the deliberation on Merrick Garland when President Barack Obama nominated him for the Supreme Court? There wasn't any, because Grassley helped Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell block even bringing the matter up for debate.

Where is the deliberation on the budget and border security bills the U.S. House just sent to the Senate? There won't be any, because McConnell has said he won't bring them to the floor because President Donald Trump won't sign them.

How can the Senate be the world's greatest deliberative body when it doesn't deliberate?

Trump's chaos shows his fear of stability

Chaos can be a means to an organized end but in President Donald Trump's case, it seems to be the goal. He strives to draw attention from the moral and ethical train wreck that is his personal, business and political life at the expense of an entire country.

He seems to see politics as a football game of rabidly opposing teams. He encourages that over all Americans being on the same team working for a better life for everyone.

People's lives should not be the result of a political game but of carefully crafted and balanced policy. Chaos is very tiring and not particularly healthy. Why is stability so threatening to him?

Grassley and Ernst lost this Iowan's trust

In 2013, Sen. Chuck Grassley and five other Republican senators who sit on the Judiciary Committee voted against the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. It passed without their support. In 2018, Grassley supported Rep. Steve King's reelection and said he will be backing President Donald Trump in 2020.

I used to think that Grassley was balanced and mostly fair. I had hopes for Ernst. Neither one represents my core values. Both have done some good things, but that does not make up for lack of character. Both are politicians at their worst and I look up to neither one for leadership, honesty, or a good future for Iowa or the USA.

I am trying to pull out something hopeful but I am awash in damaging language, lies and deceit from those who represent me. I await the spring. Maybe something different will come.

Tipton chaos shows the risk of lawbreaking

I read with disbelief and disgust the story of the Tipton brothers.

It is unbelievable to me that several states have just let them get by with keeping all of the profits from their illegal activities. Eddie and Tommy Tipton have admitted to rigging lottery games in five states worth $24 million but have repaid less than $1,400 in restitution.

This certainly does not send the kind of message it should to those who break the law. It shows you can keep millions of dollars of ill-gotten money because of the inability of those on the side of the law to do their jobs.

We need to propel our farmers to reducing climate issues

Our rural communities need to address some of our own underlying causes of rapid climate change. Farmers must increase no-till, cover crops and other methods that result in locking carbon into the soil, and use more renewable energy sources.

Yet, make no mistake in thinking these actions can be expenses heaped upon agriculture operators. Assisting agriculture to meet the challenges of abrupt climate change is in everyone’s interest.

The resulting carbon reductions benefit all of us.

We need to muster all of our political will to get this done. Tell our state legislators to pass a bill that establishes an agriculture property tax credit applied to those acres planted with a cover crop and for conservation reserve acres. Farm buildings supporting roof solar panels should also qualify for property tax credits.

As wind generators need the breeze to swing the blades, our farmers need a property tax credit to propel their endeavors to reduce rapid climate change.

Why not punish employers of illegal workers?

A letter to the editor mentions the tragic murder of an Iowa girl allegedly killed by an illegal alien [We need to fund border security legislation now]. It went on to say “if E-Verify were in effect” that this person would have be deported along time ago.

I too believe in border security, and Democrats have offered $1.3 billion for that effort. Not billions for a wall that people will climb over, dig under or find a way around.

E-Verify is a voluntary program. Why? It’s because many of us know that the people no longer control our own government. It is run by the rich and corporations. You wouldn’t need a wall if employers were given a hefty fine or prison time for hiring undocumented workers.

While attempting to support gun safety education in schools, Snell led us down a familiar path. He tried to negate the impact of the number of gun deaths. He suggested that those of us who cite the 30,000-plus violent gun deaths each year are misleading you, because only some 10,000 of those deaths are murders.

This approach blithely suggests that 10,000 gun deaths per year is a reasonable number. I have yet to accept that concept.

There is a reason that the gun lobby supports gun classes in schools. It familiarizes children with guns and makes them comfortable with the idea of gun ownership. This familiarity leads to more gun sales, which is the only goal of pro-gun organizations.

Snell trails off his argument with the statement "if it saves just one life...” His point being that knowledge of guns will somehow reduce violent gun deaths. There is no evidence of that.

Adam Lanza took the lives of 20 young children at Sandy Hook. He was well known at the local gun range. His knowledge of guns led to the deaths of 20 children.

Sadly, the list of school shootings is much longer than that — and they are most often carried out by students quite familiar with guns, and fully aware of how not to use them.

Marturello was a treasure for the Register

I don't think the Register had to take much of a chance when they added Mark Marturello to their staff.

He is an exceptional talent — a well-developed talent.

I pored over every one of his illustrations during his 30 years at the Register. His sketches, his ideas, his composition, his meticulous renderings and the digital manipulation of images is extraordinary.

I wish him the best in the years to come and hope to see his work pop up in other venues.

Grassley and Ernst are great citizen leaders

They are probably the most dignified and sensible senators there. They are only two of many, and it would be nice if Congress worked across the aisle and accomplished something for the good of our great nation.

Kurtinitis meets mark; needs to continue progress

Ordinarily, I find Joel Kurtinitis’ pieces to be off-putting. His division of American politics into right and left is overly simplistic, ignoring the rich diversity of opinion that has always existed.

I find Libertarian politics to be politicized selfishness with nothing to contribute to our common life. In fact, books both by and about Libertarians' spiritual ancestor, Ayn Rand, fill me with revulsion.

Kurtinitis' Jan. 1 piece, however, is largely on target [2019 can be the year America finds commonality again]. It rests on the realization that social media does nothing to advance the common good and in fact usually undermines it. I tend to view Facebook, for instance, as an opportunity to practice self-restraint.

On the other hand, Kurtinitis would be even more useful were he to develop the ability to ask: Who actually benefits from our currently divided state?

Does Young lack credibility on inspiring others?

I wholeheartedly agree with both propositions. However, as a long-time educator and businessman, I ask where has Young been in the furthering of inspiration in Iowa and the entire country?

To inspire requires honesty and ethics. Where was the former congressman when President Donald Trump and Rep. Steve King made xenophobic and racist statements?

Where was he when immigrant children were (and continue to be) separated from their parents? Where was he when the Republican leadership stopped accepting good science, for instance, with the urgent problem of climate change?

Where was he when the truth ceased to matter and lies became the currency of the day?

Young says "by your actions you will be known." However, I believe that he is not the nice man that he purports to be.

We must have stronger whistle-blower laws

We recently witnessed a series of shameful events due to lack of leadership by the Waukee school district [Waukee schools investigation: How we got here]. Investigations, a state audit uncovering wasteful spending, lawsuits, wrongful employee terminations and legal fees in access of a million dollars for failure in addressing an ethically challenged COO.

This impacted the district’s residents and eroded trust in the school board and superintendent.

Three dedicated employees lost their careers in coming forward to report waste, fraud, malfeasance and their cooperation with investigations. A greater insult to residents and parents of children attending the district was the arrogance, acceptance and failure to deal with problems spawned by Eric Rose.

He created a toxic environment taking revenge on his accusers — as the board and superintendent turned a blind eye and gave him two raises while displaying unfitness for his position.

The board showed little responsibility for their actions as they now appear to challenge the state audit making excuses for their fiduciary failures.

I urge all state legislators to work bipartisan to amend the Iowa Whistle Blower Law and enforce stiff penalties for those abusing their positions and protect those who rightfully report policy violations and wrongdoings.

Senate cannot be at fault for dismissing atheist invocations

Justin Scott stated numerous times in his opinion piece that he wasn't able to deliver an invocation to the Iowa Senate, and said that "the Senate must allow atheists like me deliver invocations."

An invocation is a way to call upon a deity or a higher power for aid, protection, inspiration, etc. There's nothing in the Senate's actions that can be considered religious intolerance because someone is an atheist.

Besides, if you're truly an atheist, why do you even care what other people believe?

There are more things in Heaven and on Earth than what can be dreamed of in your philosophy.

Trump's reaction to McGurk resignation is disgraceful

The relationship between Donald Trump and Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, is remarkably symbolic of the entire Trump presidency.

President Trump has grandiosely taken personal credit for the "total victory" over ISIS in Syria and announced the abrupt withdrawal of our troops from that country.

Not only is the "defeat of ISIS" untrue, but the successes of the fragile coalition of allies against ISIS in Syria and the critical role of our 2,000 troops in the training and support of the Kurdish contingent have been largely due to the coordination and direction of McGurk, a seasoned American diplomat.

President Trump’s reckless foreign policy, largely diametrically opposed to that of his own experts and advisers, has decimated our relationships with our allies of the last 70 years and placed our country and the entire Western coalition in grave jeopardy.

His obvious disregard of the facts and his ignorance of the circumstances surrounding his directives are succinctly illustrated by the above episode. The undisciplined behavior by this president can no longer be tolerated if we hope to be successful against our enemies that are obviously delighted with his performance.

Immigrants made our country great since the beginning

The wall, the wall, nothing but the wall. I almost have to laugh when I see our president talk about building a wall to protect our borders in the 21st century.

Think about it, this is the 21st century — we are not living in the 10th or even the 19th century when a wall might be difficult to get over, under or around. Why, even the The Great Wall of China isn’t being maintained as a defense mechanism, It is merely a tourist attraction.

A man can say on “further thought, this isn’t workable” and stop spending billions on a wall and get back to making our country great again by working with immigration.

I do believe it is us immigrants, wherever we came from, who have made this country great in the first place.